Soul contracts. An extremely important matter to both soul cultivator and soulbeast. Not only did it mean that neither parties would betray each other as lifelong partners, it also meant a very easy way to gain even more power!!
Jing Mingfeng broke the bottleneck to become a Soul Ancestor when he formed a soul contract with the wind squaller, and Tian Ming’s father back in the Northern Cliff Province advanced a level when he formed a soul contract with the lightning eagle, for example.
But a soul contract could only happen once in the life of either parties, making it an extremely valuable event. Very few soul cultivators used this chance at a whim while the majority would use this chance only when to break the bottleneck they were at.
A soul contract was by no means a guaranteed opportunity to gain some strength. The higher the strength, the harder it was to grow significantly stronger.
For example, if a mid-stage Soul King were to form a soul contract with a cla.s.s seven soulbeast, it’d be impossible for them to become a late-stage Soul King.
Zi Jin sent Bai Yunfei here to the Soulbeast Forest with that reason in mind. If there was a problem with Bai Yunfei’s training, then he could form a soul contract and make the breakthrough to become a Soul Exalt. Bai Yunfei had other things in mind, however, as he didn’t want to waste such a precious chance so easily. If he could become a Soul Exalt by his own merits, then he’d be able to earn a second burst of power afterwards with it.
Thus, forming a soul contract with any soulbeast wasn’t too high on his priority list.
In his opinion, he was going to be staying in the forest for a long time anyways. There was no need to rush.
His relations.h.i.+p with Xiao Qi was an abnormal one, with their soul compatibility being at 75%. By normal means, this percentage was achievable only by a soul contract, but there was no such bond yet between Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi. The idea of forming one with Xiao Qi never occurred to Bai Yunfei, since he didn’t fully understand the prisma oriole just yet–especially in regards to the potential of the bird.
Besides, if he found another soulbeast he could form a soul contract with, then he could say that Xiao Qi was his second soulbeast partner!
No matter which way he thought about it, this plan seemed like the most profitable to him.
But that plan had been tossed straight out of the window now that Bai Yunfei had stumbled across the thunderwing bat. Stuck in this quandary where escape was impossible and a battle to the death was inevitable, the only chance left for victory was to get stronger now!
And the only method to do that in such a short time frame was to form a soul contract.
It only took a second for Bai Yunfei to dismiss the notion of using the blue-eyes wyrm as his soulbeast partner. It wasn’t suitable to be contracted with him, and he wasn’t even sure if it’d even work.
Without the Beast Taming Ring, the blue-eyes wyrm had no other sentiments towards Bai Yunfei other than perhaps animosity. If so, then forming a soul contract with the soulbeast would be nigh impossible, and breaking the bottleneck would be out of his grasp.
To be more succinct, there was a level of ‘degree’ needed between both parties for a soul contract to succeed. It might be summarized as the ‘soul compatibility’, or it might just be strength of a bond between the two. Either way, the higher the compatibility, the better chances of a better result.
Xiao Qi was for this reason, a different choice than the blue-eyes wyrm. There was nothing stopping him from forming a soul contract with it, and it was very likely that he’d get the highest level of benefits from doing so!
A soul contract?
Xiao Qi skewed its head; it didn’t even know what a ‘soul contract’ even meant.
“It’s hard to explain right now, but you’ll understand once we form the contract.” Bai Yunfei spoke, reaching a hand to Xiao Qi’s head to stroke its feathers. “Calm yourself and follow where your soul leads you to.”
Agreeing to a soul contract is done instinctively. As long as the circ.u.mstances match up, a soul contract would occur; much like how Jing Mingfeng formed his soul contract with the wind squaller.
Already Bai Yunfei could feel his aura being homed in on by the thunderwing bat. It wouldn’t take long before the bat would get here, so if Bai Yunfei wanted a chance to defeat it, he’d need to form that soul contract now!
What Bai Yunfei was asking for confused Xiao Qi, but it hadn’t any reason to doubt him. Closing its eyes, Xiao Qi began to meditate and immerse itself into its soul.
Bai Yunfei did the same, allowing himself to forget about the outside world for a moment to be one with his soul.
Silence was had for several seconds before an abnormality occurred right as he touched upon the core of his soul!
“Bang!!”
Dazzling red light came pouring forth from Bai Yunfei’s body, materializing as elemental fire in the outside world to cover his entire body with it.
At the same time, Xiao Qi’s body was basked in four different glows of light, green, red, bluish-green, and purple. The elements of wood, fire, wind, and lightning were starting to form around it as well.
Soon, the two forces of elements collided with one another to form one brilliant pillar of energy!
Bai Yunfei’s right hand was still pressing the top of Xiao Qi’s head within this pillar of light. Both man and animal were completely still, but the energy rippling off their bodies were continuously pressing against each other to become one!
Everything was going smoothly like water. Not even a single obstruction was felt by Bai Yunfei as he continued to travel within his own soul to enter another. At the same time he was doing that, another soul was doing the same to him.
It was a subtle feeling, but not a strange one. Back in Gaoyi City of the Northern Cliff Province, he had nearly formed a soul contract with the lightning eagle there. While the contract didn’t successfully go through, Bai Yunfei still experienced what it was like.
Inside the confines of his soul, it felt like there was a hazy picture slowly taking form where both his and another soul was slowly being led to. Their souls moved with a trail that never seemed to fade, ultimately forming a mystical seal onto the picture .
The more this seal took form, the more Bai Yunfei felt like his mind was becoming more clear to Xiao Qi’s and vice versa; in fact, he began to feel like he could fully understand what emotions Xiao Qi was feeling right now—
Joy. Joy and devotion of the highest degree of innocence.
The conclusion of the soul contract went on without any issues. In the end, not even two minutes had gone by before Bai Yunfei felt the seals formed by the soul contract start to exude power, filling his entire body with an unbelievable amount of elemental fire!
As soon as the deluge of elemental fire started to pour into Bai Yunfei’s body, the second fireseed in his Cataclysmic Seal popped out of it to dive into the origin acupoint of Bai Yunfei’s body!
Due to the instinctive nature bred by Bai Yunfei’s usage of the Dual Flame Arts, neither of the fireseeds fought with one another.
Instead, they hovered in place next to each other to start absorbing all of the elemental fire that came in.
Simultaneously, the soulforce within Bai Yunfei’s body was rapidly increasing, and the wounds on his body were regenerating so quickly that his wounds were soon fully healed!